Not My Only Reason: The Rewrite and Continuation
by Sagen Meow
Summary: Sam and Micheal were able to fight off David and his gang, but what was Sam's reasoning? Of course there was Micheal, but what if there was someone else? Someone who also has the motive to fight? Sam/OC Due to originally writing this in 8th grade, I've decided to rewrite it. Here is the result. Hope you all enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

The Lost Boys

Not My Only Reason

You may have heard of the Lost Boys and their fights with Michael and Sam Emerson. You may think Sam stopped them because he wanted his brother back. Well, it was. But it wasn't the only reason.

Alexis Walsh was a normal teenager in the eighties. She had black hair, deep green eyes, and was about an inch taller than the average teenager. She had an older sister named Vanessa, who, despite the 2 year age difference, looked relatively the same as her younger sister. They'd grown up very close to each other and shared generally the same interests. Sometimes they were mistaken for twins, which would always make Alexis laugh. Nowadays it would make her tear up at the thought of it.

 _It was a typical summer afternoon in Santa Carla, warm and bright, with the most beautiful sunset in the world. Alexis and Vanessa had been dying to go feel the warm sand on their toes, and the coldness of the ocean beating off of their skin. They had moved to Santa Carla two months ago, wanting to escape the boring city-mountain life of Utah and feel the ocean air. A simple vacation to the beach would have sufficed, but their parents decided to move all the way out here. They loved their parents, but they hadn't been able to leave the house once since arriving. Their parents insisted they helped with as much unpacking as they could before playtime could begin. Tonight was their first night out, and they were going to make the most of it._

Alexis sighed as she snapped out of her day dream. She hated the flashbacks to when they were a happy family. She hated them even more than she hated living here; it was turning out to be the worst. She never thought she would hate living in the one place she had wanted to be her entire life, but she did.

It was all because of her sister. Her sister had 'gone missing' shortly after they had gotten the privilege to explore the outside world. Her sister had abused it, and left without a trace. At least, according to most records. Alexis was unfortunate enough to know the truth, but she knew no one would have believed her if she tried to tell them.

So Vanessa joined the hundreds of other ' _Have you seen me?_ ' posters plastered all over the town of Santa Carla, and Alexis lost any hope of seeing the outside world before graduating high school. Her parents became overprotective, so scared she would make any moves similar to her sister. They unregistered her from the school she was going to start that year and home schooled her, and the only times she was allowed out were if she was in a place her parents trusted AND she was accompanied by one of them.

It was now a year since it happened. She was finally getting over it, and wanted her freedom back. It was _summer_ , and she still wasn't allowed out of the house. She wasn't stupid like her sister had been, and she understood the dangers now. She just wanted to go to the beach again...

Alexis put down the book she had been trying to read for the past hour to no avail. Her mind kept wandering to the waves not so far from her house, calling her name. She looked outside her open window at the setting sun. It's been long enough that it shouldn't hurt to go out...right? She hadn't brought up leaving the house in nearly a month, perhaps they'd let her out, if only just for an hour.

Before she could talk herself out of it, she'd decided to ask her parents during dinner. She thought up what she would use to counter what her parents would say, and prove she could go out. She was so focused, she almost jumped when she heard the call for dinner.

She was surprised when her parents said yes almost right away. Apparently it was a topic they'd been discussing since she hadn't made any friends since moving here, and how it must be affecting her development as a teenager. There was a lot of junk in their speech she neglected to listen to due to the fact her parents said _yes._ She pretended to listen until they got down to the rules.

"Remember Alexis," her mother nagged. "You're only allowed a couple hours out. You'll have time to walk there, have fun, and walk home. No lollygagging, no drugs, smoking, or alcohol, and absolutely do not bring anyone home. We WILL know if you do."

Alexis nodded her head eagerly, knowing she wouldn't do any of those in the first place.

Her parents smiled at her and finished their meals. Once she had helped her mother with cleaning up dinner, she changed from her pajamas to casual denim jeans and an old t-shirt from a tourist lodge while they were camping.

She walked the short distance from her house, to the infamous boardwalk. She examined all the stores and watched all the weirdos walking about. From their hairdos to their fashion styles, the people of Santa Carla were certainly unique. She felt bad for judging all the people around her when she saw a comic book shop.

' _Huh,_ ' she thought. ' _I swear last summer this was a diet frozen yogurt bar._ '

She shrugged and decided to look around the shop to see if anything caught her interest. She wasn't much of a comic reader in the past, but didn't see the harm of getting into them now.

As she walked in, the eerie feeling of being watched fell over her. Looking around, she saw two boys who seemed roughly her age staring at her. She didn't care too much at first, brushing them off as usual Santa Carla populace. But as she kept looking at the comics, they kept staring at her. She hoped that if she ignored them, they would realize she wasn't that interesting of a person. She looked at the comics, quickly looking over the titles and brushing her fingers against any which mildly tickled her fancy. When she brushed over one with the title _Vampires Everywhere!_ , she picked it up to look it over. It seemed interesting, and she was really thinking about buying it. That was until she looked up to see the boys look at her with increased interest. She sighed and put it down, walking around for another minute before finally speaking up.

"Do you always stare at your customers like this?" Alexis asked the two boys. They looked away and tried to look casual, but it was a fruitless effort.

They were roughly the same height, but one was just a bit taller that the other. The taller one had dark brown hair, a longish face, and his skin a darker tone to it. The smaller one had lighter hair with a red cloth tied around his forehead. His face was a bit chubbier the other boy's, which made him look a little childish. They were both pretty cute, but their fashion sense and the way they carried themselves reminded her of Rambo. She hoped to confront them and get out of the shop as quickly as possible, not really not really wanting to hang around Rambo the second and third.

"Alright, you caught us," The taller of the two said. The smaller one gave him a look that probably meant he had blown their cover. "We were watching you."

"May I ask exactly why?" she asked with a slightly annoyed tone.

"We were just making sure," Rambo the third asked.

"Making sure of what?"

He stopped to think, "Making sure we could trust you."

That was easily one of the most ridiculous things she had ever heard. "Really?" she inquired. "What am I going to do? Rob you?"

The boys looked at each other, carrying a silent conversation of how to proceed. They didn't want to scare her off too early; they needed to get their message across her before she labeled them too harshly.

"Okay, you caught us again," Rambo the second told her. "We were wondering if we had seen you before."

"Unless you saw me last summer, I doubt you would have," she shrugged, letting her attention wander to the comics next to her.

"What does that mean?" Rambo the Third asked aggressively.

"It means I moved here last year and haven't seen the light of day since summer ended."

They gave her a strange, but oddly intimidating look; silently asking for her to continue on with her story. She picked up a comic she wasn't particularly interested in and flipped through it, hoping that if she seemed disinterested they'd leave her alone.

"Overprotective parents," she explained. "Didn't think I was safe after my sister disappeared."

The junior Rambos perked up, more interested in her than ever, to Alexis's dismay. "How'd she disappear?" the smaller one asked, trying hard to remain stoic despite his obvious excitement.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try us," the taller one challenged.

She looked at them, her focus switching from one boy to the other. There was something telling her that maybe they would understand. In this crazy city, there was bound to be someone who would, right? After a few seconds of deliberation, she put down the comic and stuck her hands in her pockets. "My name is Alexis Walsh."

"I'm Edgar, and this my brother Alan," the smaller boy said. "We're the Frog brothers."

"Now you gonna tell us what happened?" the taller boy, Alan, requested impatiently.

Shaking her head, she walked out. "Maybe another night," she replied quietly.

"But-!" Edgar called out to her, only to have his brother pull him back. They would have to wait until she was ready.

After Alexis finally got out of there, she walked along the boardwalk to see what else she could look at before having to head home. Not too far along from the Frog Brother's shop was a pretty hip looking video store. She hadn't really seen a lot of the movies that'd come out recently due to being locked up, so she decided to go in and check them out. She was busy looking around when an older man appeared.

"Excuse me, Miss, are you finding everything alright?" the man asked.

She looked up and quickly looked back at the movies, feeling intimidated by him, "Oh yeah, but I'm just looking."

"Okay, but if you need any help or anything, just ask me. My name is Max."

"Thank you," she said quietly, giving him a small smile.

"You know, I have never seen you before, you new here?" Max asked, trying to be friendly.

"Well, I moved here last year, but I've been home schooled and stuck at home," she explained.

"So this is your first night free in a while hasn't it?"

"Yeah," she laughed a little nervously.

"Well I hope that you have a great night. And if you ever need anything, just come on over and I might be able to be of some assistance," he said, giving her a genuine smile. She didn't know why he was giving her the creeps, he seemed normal enough. She brushed off her uneasiness and gave him a better smile back.

She thanked him and found her way out of the store. As soon as she got out she grabbed some ice cream and started her walk back home. Looking back at all the lights and sounds of the boardwalk, she couldn't wait to get back out there again. She wished she could have stayed longer, but if she hoped to come back anytime soon, her parents' rules had to be obeyed.

Her mind flashed back to when she and Vanessa were finally getting their freedom. It was so much fun, until they met _him_. After that her sister became reckless, and often tried to hide the things she was doing, even from Alexis. Of course their parents found out about him, but they didn't know the extent of his influence over Vanessa. It pained her to remember it all crumbling down, so she focused on finishing her ice cream while finding her way home.

The first thing she heard when she walked through the door was her mother's voice as she jumped out of her armchair to greet Alexis. Although they trusted her, they were still worried out of their minds that she would return safely. It was nice of them to worry, but she wished that they would tone it down just a little bit. They sat her down and asked her about her time out. She didn't go into a lot of detail, but told her parents about some particular shops she liked and some of the weird people she knew would elicit laughter from her parents.

When she was finally able to get out of the conversation and off to bed, she quickly ran up the stairs to her room and changed into a new pair of pajamas. She lied in bed for quite a while, just thinking about her short time out. She lay there for almost an hour before she was able to finally fall asleep, hoping for another day out really soon.

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Lost Boys. As much as I would totally love to, I don't.**


	2. Chapter 2

The Lost Boys

Not My Only Reason

It had been a long night for Alexis. She had been tossing and turning all night, which made it hard to want to get up in the morning. She looked at the time, noting how late in the morning it was before pulling her pillow over her head and smothering herself slightly. Usually her parents made her get up early, just to make sure she was okay and hadn't done anything wrong after she went to bed. Since her sister had done so before, they wanted to make sure she wasn't following in her footsteps. It was a pleasant surprise to get to sleep in for once.

After neglecting to get out of bed for another ten minutes, she moved the pillow off her face and pulled her covers off. She quickly made her bed, as per her parents rule, and made her way down the stairs.

It was a weekday, and her parents would still be at work for another 4 hours at least. It super sucked to be stuck in the house during the summer. She was about to fix herself a bowl of cereal when she saw a note on the counter, presumably from her mom.

 _Dear Alexis,_

 _Hope you enjoyed sleeping in. We decided since you had a fun time and listened to us last night, you could sleep in. Your father and I discussed the possibility of letting you go out tonight as well, so long as you do your chores. Be good today._

 _Love,_

 _Mom_

Alexis stood there, mouth open wide. She couldn't believe her luck. Two nights in a row? By herself? She reread it a few more times in order for it to finally sink in. She could go to the boardwalk again! There was so much of it she still had yet to see, and being able to go out any time before a week after the first time was a true miracle.

After putting down the note, she made it a point to run around the house in excitement before calming down. When she was properly calm, she made herself a bowl of cereal and plotted her day. She thought about what places she hoped to see, and others she neglected to go past yesterday. As she ate, the glimmer of the ocean caught her eye. She almost forgot how badly wanted to go to the beach, but knew it was going to be too dark to go by time she was let out.

As if on cue, the little devil in her mind started to convince her to go out during the day while her parents were out. She put up very little of a fight against it, and let herself be convinced. As long as she was back before her parents were, everything should be alright...

Alexis quickly finished her breakfast and cleaned her bowl. If she got her chores for the day done now, there was no way she would get caught. She quickly cleaned up what little of a mess her room was and straightened up the living room, then ran back up to her room to change. She changed into her favorite bright green crop top and a pair of high waisted shorts, and a simple pair of sandals she could wear in the sand and carry around.

When she was pleased with her look, she ran out of the house as quickly as possible. As she reached the boardwalk she saw that it was no different today than it was last night. Although the volume of weirdos had lessened, the boardwalk was still mainly comprised of them. She took a quick walk around the boardwalk before rushing down to the sandy waves of the beach.

Alexis hadn't been to the beach in over a year. Despite this being the whole reason she moved here, she never really went to the beach. After her sister met that boy, a lot of the free time she had was taken up by spying on her sister and that guy she'd met.

When she finally stepped onto the sand, she felt truly happy. It was warm as she dug her toes into the sand, remembering the feeling of every single grain of sand as it touched her skin. She was more than excited to be here, if there even was a feeling. She quickly ran to the edge of the water to feel it. It was just as she remembered it; cool, refreshing, and beautiful. She didn't want to get into the water too much, just embrace the rays of sunshine she had missed so badly.

It was then she felt a tap on her back. She looked around to see a Frisbee in the sand below her, the obvious culprit as to what had hit her.

"Hey!" a voice called out to her. She turned to see it was a handsome young boy, about her age. He had dark brown hair that was somewhat short and very unkempt, with warm-feeling gray eyes. He was wearing longish white shorts, and an unbuttoned striped pink and orange shirt. He wasn't wearing an undershirt, and so his bare chest and slight abs were easily visible.

' _Oh no, he's hot,_ ' she thought to herself. Her mouth sat open for a second as she picked up the Frisbee and stared at him.

"Hey," the boy said as he reached her, pretty out of breath.

"Hey," she stuttered slightly.

"My name is Jake, what's yours?"

"Alexis," she replied shyly. What was wrong with her?

"Well it's nice to meet you, Alexis." he smiled and held a hand out to her. "So, um, you from around here?"

"Well- um, well, sort of," she answered, her words stumbling over themselves as she spoke. She'd never felt so tongue-tied by a boy before, and his grey eyes pierced her outer shell quickly.

"Sort of?"

"Well, I moved here a year ago. But my parents thought that it would be better if I was forced to stay homebound," she told him

"Oh, no wonders you look familiar!" Jake said, confusing her greatly.

"What do you mean?"

"I saw you before you disappeared last year!"

"Really?" she asked, no longer nervous; it was now confusion.

"Yeah! Didn't you have a sister with you? 'Cause I swear I saw someone that looked extremely like you, except maybe a bit taller."

"Yeah," she answered sadly, her memories coming back up a little. "She um, well she-"

"Disappeared?" he finished her sentence.

"Yeah," she muttered, looking away. This isn't how she wanted to go about meeting someone new. Her sister was still a hard subject.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay," she said quickly, cutting him off. "You didn't know."

He nodded and shrugged a little, then smiled a bit. It took her mind off it a little just to see him smile at her. "So uh, wanna hang out?"

Alexis smiled a little back and nodded. "Yeah, I'd like to."

She looked down at her hands and suddenly remembered the Frisbee in her hands. She blushed and handed it back to him, her nervousness returning. "Uh, here's this back by the way."

He laughed a little bit and grabbing it back from her. His fingers lightly brushed against hers, making her blush more. "Thanks. So what do you want to do?" he asked.

"Well, um… I don't exactly know, I just recently got my privilege to actually leave the house, "She admitted, slightly regretting it.

"Well we'll just stay here then," Jake said, holding out his hand. "It's a beautiful day. Why not stay here on the beautiful beach, on a beautiful day, with a beautiful girl."

He was totally hitting on her, but somehow she was okay with it. She had let down her guard with him so easily, but she could feel herself not regretting it one bit.

"Well, um sure," she said, taking his offered hand. They smiled as they walked hand-in-hand down the shoreline.

She stood there in front of the steps of her house, holding hands with Jake, the boy she just met. He seemed nice to her, and he acted like a gentleman the whole day. They hung out at the beach until she had to go home, kicking sand at each other, splashing water at each other's faces, and being close. They even played with the Frisbee a little bit. She couldn't think of a better day than this.

"It was really nice to meet you Jake," Alexis said, smiling happily.

"It was really nice to meet you too, Alexis," he said. She never got tired of him saying her name. "When are coming to the boardwalk again?"

"Later tonight," she told him, and blushed a little in embarrassment. "I technically shouldn't have been out, but I really wanted to go."

He smiled at her and squeezed her hands a little. "Well I'm glad I met you now so we could hang out later tonight. If that's okay with you, I mean."

She nodded eagerly and grinned, "Yeah, of course!"

"Awesome!" he grinned back. "Meet you by the beach later tonight?"

"We aren't going to spend some time in the freezing cold water are we?" she laughed.

"No," he laughed back. "It's just a meeting place."

"Okay! I should be back out by at least 7, so I'll meet you then. You better go before my parents get home."

"Okay," Jake said. He kissed her cheek and walked back to the boardwalk. She stood there for a few minutes in blissful happiness before going back inside to change and shower, so her parents wouldn't get suspicious. She cleaned up all the sand from her shoes and beach clothes just in time for her parents to get home.

"Hey guys!" Alexis greeted them, looking up from the decoy magazine she was only using to look nonchalant.

"Hi, Sweetie! How was your day?" her mom asked as she set down her purse and headed up toward their room

"Oh it was fun," she replied.

"What did you do all day? Sleep?" her father asked as took off his shoes and loosed his tie.

"No," she said. She had already thought up a lie. "I slept a little bit, but then I got up and watched T.V. for a bit. I got done watching as soon as you guys got home."

Her father smiled at her and kissed the top of her head in parental affection. She smiled back at him and set the magazine down on the table.

"Woah there squirt," he said, instantly making her nervous. "Looks like your hair is a little wet there."

She tried to act nonchalant, thinking up something on the spot due to her forgetfulness. "Oh yeah, I hadn't showered in a couple days so I thought I'd get one before you guys got home."

Her mother sighed and shook her head as she walked back down, dressed down from her work outfit and going straight to the kitchen to make dinner for the family. "I knew I should have reminded you yesterday to shower. At least you got one without us reminding you today."

Alexis nodded in agreement, but she wished her mom didn't have to act like she needed to remind her about everything she had to do. It's not like she was 10 years old, or Vanessa.

"You read my note though, right Alexis?" her mother asked as she got ingredients out for dinner.

"Yeah!" She answered, obviously excited. "I've already gotten all my chores done."

Her parents looked back at her, impressed. "Well I guess you can go then."

"Okay here's the deal though," her father said. "You can leave about 6, that way you can have dinner and spend some time with us. You can do whatever you want there, as long as you don't get into trouble, but you MUST come back before midnight. No exceptions."

She was astonished. Maybe her parents were finally getting over her sister's absence? Maybe they trusted her again? No matter what, they were letting her do things without all the needless protection.

"Thanks Dad!" She went over and hugged her parents before going into her room to change into a different outfit, yet again; although this time into a little bit warmer of an outfit for the nighttime. She was just so excited to get her life back. No more overprotective parents, all whatever she wanted...in a way. After changing, she went downstairs to eat and hang out with her family. She pretended to be the perfect daughter until they let her go free.

She was earlier than she told Jake she would be, so she decided she would walk around the boardwalk. Maybe even see those boys again. The Frog brothers? Something like that. Yeah, maybe she would talk to them for a bit.

She walked down the line of shops before actually finding the comic shop. She went in, and was surprised to see an older couple in there. They were just laying there next to a T.V. in the back, stoned or something. Maybe even dead? She pushed that thought from her mind and shrugged it off. It was probably just more of Santa Carla's resident weirdos. She walked over to see if any comics would spark her interests before the boys showed up, but before she could even see any of the titles the boys were back on her trail.

"So, you've come back huh?" Edgar (she hoped that was his name) asked.

"Yep," she said. "Glad to see me boys?"

"Not particularly," he said, earning a bit of a glare from her.

"We just want to know what you were talking about last night before you disappeared on us," the other boy, Alan, insisted.

"You still remember huh?" she asked.

"Clear as dawn."

She sighed, leaning against the counter and looking down at her worn down sneakers. "Well, my sister started hanging out with this dude. I don't know what he did to make her like him. He was an obvious punk-rocker dude and he rode a motorcycle, and hung out with a few other guys that looked just like him. I never liked him, I knew he was trouble from the start. After like a month of hanging out with him, she 'disappeared'." As she said that, she did physical air quotes and rolled her eyes. "Everyone thinks she just ran away with him, but I know they're wrong. If I told them, they would think I'm crazy, and I would be locked up more than I already am."

"Then why don't you tell us what really happened?" Alan asked. "We wouldn't tell anyone."

"How do I really know that I could trust you with something I couldn't even tell the police?" She asked them.

"If was as simple as 'running away', we wouldn't be having this conversation, would we?" Edgar asked her, trying to make a point.

Alexis gave him an intimidating glare, which he was obviously happy to return. She tried to get off the topic of her sister, taking her back off the counter and walking around the shop again. "What can you tell me about your shop here?"

"Why would you want to know?" Edgar asked, not liking the change in subject.

She shrugged, "Just for the benefit of knowing, I guess."

"Well there was a diet frozen yogurt bar here, until we moved our shop here about the same time you sister disappeared," Alan told her. "We've been living in Santa Carla since we were born, and since this place was going out of business our parents decided to quit their jobs and start a comic shop here."

"But it's not like they actually work though," Edgar added. "They are always passed out and make us do it instead. Just showing up so they could still say they were actually doing something. Don't see how that works out though."

So that explained the couple behind the counter. She was right, they were stoned out of their fucking minds. They were pretty close to dead, though.

"I see," she said. "So you two pretty much just work here because of them?"

"Basically," Alan said, shrugging.

"How about your life?" Edgar asked very sarcastically. "What are your parents like?"

Alexis decided to ignore his sarcastic comment and inserted her own. "Overprotective, sheltered. That's all it's been since my sister disappeared, at least."

She shrugged and looked at the comics again, starting to regret her decision to come back.

"You know, we might have some information for you," Alan informed her, clearly trying to pull her back in.

"What the hell are you talking about?" She snapped, turning around to see them.

"You know that boy you were hanging out with earlier today?" Edgar asks.

"Yeah, what-" she started, but then caught on to them. "Wait, how do you know about him? I never said anything about him!"

"Well…" Alan said.

"We saw you on the beach cuddling with him," Edgar finished.

"You were SPYING on me?" she demanded.

"We just saw you while we were out on our lunch break," Edgar said, trying to defend them. "We were just wondering what you were doing out after all your dramatic, 'I'm not allowed out' spiel."

"So that gives you the right to SPY on me?" she asked, noticeably hurt. "And you guys want me to trust you?"

She walked out of the shop, not wanting to deal with their nonsense anymore.

Alan tried to clear it up, but it was too late. She was already gone, tears starting to form. She ran down the nearest stairs to the beach and hid next to them, falling down to her knees and hiding her face in her arms. Yeah it was a public area, and she really wasn't trying to hide herself, but openly admitting to spying on her was fucked up. Whatever friendship they had managed to form had vanished.

As she wiped away her tears, a figure came up to her. She didn't care who it was, as long as it wasn't one the stupid Frog Brothers.

 **A/N: Amazing! This is starting to become a comprehensible mess! Thank guys for rereading this dumb story. I'm going to be sure to keep working on this until I finish this. Who knows, maybe I'll get even BETTER at writing and rewrite it again for my own pleasure! Toodles for now.**


	3. Chapter 3

The Lost Boys

Not My Only Reason

 **A/N: So the next two chapters are getting shortened a little. The parts I didn't like the most came from these next two chapters, and they dragged on long enough I got a major writer's block. I made them too OOC for my tastes after reading it over. I'm really sorry if that was the stuff you loved most about this story, but hopefully it'll still work out and be good enough for those who liked it!**

As the figure came closer, she was able to determine through teary eyes she knew him, it was Jake. She had totally forgotten that they were going to hang out. She felt bad and tried to quickly dry her tears before he noticed, but it didn't work.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked as he came up to her, worry written all over his face.

She sniffed and tried to smile at him, "It-It's nothing."

"I know there is something wrong, I can tell you've been crying," he told her, sitting down next to her. He held her face in his hands, and wiped her tears with his thumbs.

"Fine," she sighed. "The Frog Brothers were spying on us earlier, and I found out. "

"Who? Oh yeah, those crazy kids?"

"Yeah. I've been talking to them and they told me they saw us on the beach together earlier. I guess I overreacted."

"Yeah, I wouldn't blame you. They are so serious, everything seem a bit worse than it really is." he said, trying to comfort her. "Have you heard any rumors about them?"

She looked at him with an incredulous look. "I have been trapped in my house for a year straight with no communication to the outside world what so ever, what do you think?"

"I think no," he laughed. "Well, people say that they are hunting vampires or something. Can you believe it?"

Inside her head, a feeling of relief came over her. She couldn't let him know, though.

"I can't believe it," she lied, laughing nervously. "I mean vampires? Pfft, they don't exist."

He laughed, "I know right? It's all they really talk to anyone about, but I think it is all just a bunch of shit. You know?"

"Yeah, that's too crazy. Maybe they're just sniffing old newsprint or something."

Jake laughed. "Yeah, maybe. Well, you feeling better? Or you still upset?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I think I just overreacted, I haven't had social contact in over a year, and it seems any sort of drama is getting to my head."

"Well, let's forget them," he stood up, brushed off the sand, and offered up his hand. "And go have some fun."

She sat there for a second longer, having small last minute thoughts about him. She ended up taking his hand and brushing off her uneasy feelings. "Okay, I'm ready to have some fun."

They walked up the stairs, and onto the boardwalk. Jake put his arm around Alexis as they started down the walkway, which made the butterflies in her stomach flutter around. They walked past the comic shop; Alan looked up in time to see them walk by and nudged his brother next to him to look up as they disappeared from their view.

"Are you taunting them?" she asked him.

"What are you talking about?" he asked innocently.

She gave him a small smile and poked his side. "You deliberately walked past them like that didn't you?"

He grinned at her and shrugged. "Hey, they kinda deserve it for being shit heads to you."

She punched his side playfully and shook her head, but kept smiling to let him know she was joking around. "Don't be an asshole, Jake."

He laughed and kissed her forehead, making her forget about it all. "Whatever, let's go do stuff.

She nodded, and they were off. The pair first started off by going on all the rides. There weren't a lot of them, but they were rickety and old enough to pass off as dangerous and fun. They played a few games, she won a couple, he won a couple, but they didn't manage to get any of the super cool and giant prizes. Jake did manage to get her a small teddy bear, which made her heart melt. It was super cute of him to do. She didn't know how she was falling so hard for this boy, but she was. It didn't seem too long after that the boardwalk started to close up and people were heading for the exit.

"Hey, why's everyone going home?" Alexis asked, not wanting the night to end.

"You haven't seen the weather have you?" He pointed up to the storm clouds forming above them, and the winds that were starting to kick up.

"Oh it's only a little rain," she complained.

He laughed. "But it'll turn from a little to a lot in a few minutes. We better get going. We're pretty far from where we can leave, but don't worry, I know a shortcut."

As they walked he turned into a small alleyway between two shops. She didn't know how far from the exit they actually were, but it seemed this way wasn't taking them where she thought it was. When they seemed to be far enough away from everyone else, Jake suddenly stopped walking and pulled her to face him.

"Hey, what's wrong? I thought we were going through a shortcut?" She asked, trembling a little.

He smiled at her, creeping her out. "Nothing, I'm just making sure we are alone."

"It going to rain soon, I thought we were leaving," she demanded, getting very anxious.

"It's only a little rain," he said, quoting her. She didn't understand what was going on, but she tried to move them along to get away from whatever this was turning out to be.

"But it'll turn from a little to a lot in a few minutes, so let's go," she begged, quoting him back. He was starting to scare her now. His eyes didn't move, and no matter how hard she pushed him he wouldn't move. He grabbed her forearms, his grip super tight.

"Oh, no. You aren't going anywhere," his voice changed to a tone deeper than his own. "You are going to stay right here."

She pushed and pulled away from him but it was no use, she was stuck in his grasp. His eyes turned from his normal warm grey eyes, to a cold and unnatural yellow. His perfect smile had been ruined with fangs protruding from the front top of his teeth. He turned into a beast.

"Don't let this turn into more than it needs to, Alexis."

"H-How did you survive the sunlight this morning i-if you're a vampire...?" she asked him nervously. She was trying not to show her fear, but doing the worst job at it.

"Oh, you're smarter than you seem Alexis, I knew that from the start, "he taunted. "Well, I wasn't turned until before I found you crying. You see, I have been working with vampires for 6 months now. They offered me a place in their pack if I would help them find food and good places to hunt. They've finally let me join them, and you are my first kill."

Tears started to stream down her face as she tried once again to free herself from his grasp. He only laughed harder, and wrapped one of his newly strengthened arms around her to keep her close to him. He pulled at her long hair to open her neck up to him and sniffed at her throat to increase her fear.

"Please..." she begged. It was all she could muster out. She couldn't believe she had let herself fall for his charm, this was the way she was going to go.

His laughter increased and she waited for the inevitable bite to happen, but it never came. She felt the hands fall from her face and waist and opened her eyes in confusion. She saw Jake's wide with fear, and blood came pouring out of his chest like a mini waterfall. She backed up as quickly as she could into the wall behind her and watched him fall to the ground. Behind Jake was Alan Frog, holding the stake that was used to kill Jake. She didn't care about the blood that was around her feet, she was too shocked at the events which had occurred. She didn't feel hands gently grab her and lead her out of the alleyway and into the streets. All she saw afterwards was Alan holding her wrist as he pulled her along to the comic book shop. She could feel his grip on her wrist, and another pair of hands on her shoulders pushing her along, presumably Edgar Frog.

While they led Alexis leading to their shop, Edgar and Alan looked at each other in excitement with what just happened. They had just killed their first vampire, and saved their first almost-victim-of-the-undead! Although they were excited, they were worried about Alexis. She had just stormed off out of their shop a few hours ago over almost nothing, how would she handle this? Would she welcome it with open arms? Would she tell them she was going to kill them first chance she got?

When they finally reached the comic shop, they sat her down and closed up the shop. They needed privacy, and to stop the wind from picking up their comics. Alexis hadn't said a word the entire time, which made Edgar worry more about her reaction and made him the first one to say anything.

"Before you get mad at us or whatever you're going to do, you better listen to us first," Edgar commanded. "First off-"

"Edgar, I'm not mad," she mumbled.

"What?" Alan asked, worried.

"I'm not mad," she said, just barely loud enough for them to hear.

"Well, no matter what you can't be mad at us because we are the ones that saved you after you decided not to listen to us," Edgar insisted.

"How did you know Jake was a vampire?"

"We had our suspicions," Edgar told her. "He'd acted like he was one of them for a while, but he was going out into the sunlight and shit. We figured he was part of them in some way, we just couldn't prove it very well. We confirmed it when he left your house. After he left, we followed your boy toy until he was being really suspicious. We - uh, then lost him for a while... But we believe that's when he turned into a half-vampire. All he needed to do was make his first kill to become a vampire, and apparently that was going to be you."

"First of all, Jake was not my boy toy. We were barely even friends!" Alexis hissed, crossing her arms.

"Then explain all the gross lovey-dovey things you did!" Edgar countered, wanting to be right.

She bit her lip, knowing she couldn't explain that to him. She then tried to change the subject, "Second of all, how do you know he was only half?"

"You have to explain why you two were cuddling first!" Edgar commanded, oddly trying to get an answer out of her.

"After someone drinks the blood from the head vampire, they only become a half. In order to be a full-fledged vampire, they need to make their first kill," Alan explained. She gave him a silent thank you, and opened her mouth to ask another question, but Edgar cut her off.

"Yes, now that we have covered that," he said, starting to get annoyed. "Will you please tell us why it took you until we saved you from being a victim of a vampire to gain your trust, and it took him probably about 5 minutes?"

"Well, I honestly don't know," she admitted, blushing a little. "I usually wouldn't stand for how he was acting, but I guess his charm just...won me over..."

"Even though he wasn't a vampire yet, I'm sure his charm was enhanced with hanging around those dirty blood suckers," Alan confirmed.

"In case you weren't aware, vampires have enhanced charisma and personality to help pull their victims in," Edgar commented, making Alexis roll her eyes.

"Hey, don't you be rolling your eyes at me in this situation! We just saved your life! You could at least act a little more grateful!" Edgar raised his voice slightly.

"I am grateful, but I wouldn't be rolling my eyes at you if you didn't sit and state the obvious in this situation," she started arguing back at him.

"Well I wouldn't know what you know about the situation, since you won't tell us shit."

"Well-" Alexis was cut off.

"Hey! Don't argue!" Alan called out. "You're lucky our parents aren't here to hear this shit, but we don't need all of the boardwalk to know about this.

Alexis then looked down at her feet, just stood there for a second before saying, "Well he-"

"I don't care that he started it," Alan said, calmer than he was before. Edgar gave a betrayed look at his brother, Alan just glared back at him. "I'm ending it."

They sat in silence for a second before Alexis sighed and apologized. "Sorry I haven't told you guys everything, and thanks for having my back."

Edgar shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, guess I'm sorry for being a little shit."

Alexis looked up at him and gave him a small smile in thanks. Edgar looked back at her and rolled his eyes a bit. He was a sentimental kind of person. She chuckled a bit, not taking it personal after figuring the apology was the best she was going to get.

After clearing the air, Alan looked at them and spoke. "Well, do you have any more questions, Alexis?"

Alexis thought about it and shrugged, figuring some of what she would ask would spark more arguments and shit. "I guess just, what do we do now?"

The brothers looked at each other, having another one of their silent conversations before answering.

"I guess the only thing left is to escort you home," Edgar told her, seeming relieved.

Alexis wished she could have gotten after him about what he said, when she froze. "Edgar, what time is it?"

He looked down at his watch. "Quarter to midnight, why?"

She jumped up in fear and ran towards the entrance of the shop. "Shit! I need to be home in 15 minutes or my parents will kill me, literally!"

She didn't get very far, since Edgar had grabbed a hold of her wrist and pulled her back. "Are you crazy? You can't go out there without protection!"

"I'm sure that all the vampires are gone Edgar, I think I can go out now," she said, shaking him off her.

"Actually," Alan joined in. "You never know with vampires. Even if we killed one of their useless servants, they could still be out there looking for food, especially since it's raining and everyone is gone."

Edgar looked at Alexis with a sense of pride as she looked at him with a sense of distaste. "Fine, but I still don't think it is very necessary."

"Don't worry, it's not the thrill of my life either," Edgar assured her.

Alan shook his head and grabbed a jacket from the back room and gave it to Alexis, "You'll need it in this weather."

"No thanks, I'll be good," she replied, trying to give it back.

"No, you're going to wear it," Alan told her, giving it back to her. "The storm's gotten pretty nasty out there. That's one of the reasons why we closed up early."

Alexis took the jacket, seeing she wasn't going to get anywhere. She didn't want to feel like she owed them anymore than she already did, but here they were. Escorting her home and letting her borrow their jackets.

Alan went back to get a couple more jackets from Edgar and him, Edgar, on the other hand, glared at Alexis as she leaned against the wall of his store. She was wearing one of his jackets. She may be a friend, but no one wears his jackets but him. He wanted to tell her, but it would have to wait for another day. He had to protect the blood-sucker-attracter from harm no matter how much he didn't like it.

As soon as they were all geared up and ready to go, they opened the shop. Alexis was sad to admit that they were right as she got a face full of water. They walked out into the pouring rain, the wind blowing its might into the three teenager's faces. They were having a hard time even getting through the boardwalk. The rain they could have handled, but the wind was just too much for them, even the short distance walking to her house. They hadn't gotten too far when they decided to call it quits. Alexis's parents were not going to be happy, and she was not looking forward to their reactions. They were able to a get everyone inside the shop and close up again before it started thundering and lightning.

Everyone was tired from their journey, even though it was pretty short. "This…is…why…you took…the jacket," Alan said between pants.

Alexis smiled and laughed, still panting as well. "Yeah, thanks for letting me borrow it. So, what are we going to do now?"

"Well obviously you'll have to stay in the shop for the night," Edgar told her as he pulled his jacket off. "There's no way we can get out of here in this weather."

"No! I told you that-"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard that. You only have to stay long enough for the storm to let up."

"But what am I going to tell my parents? 'I stayed over at some vampire hunter's comic book shop because they killed a vampire that was going to eat me and storm is too bad to walk home in.'?"

The boys thought about it for a minute before Alan spoke up. "How about you call them, tell them that you are staying at a friend that you met on the boardwalk's place, not telling them it's us, and then you stay here."

"That's actually not a bad idea," Alexis told him. "So where is your phone?"

"In the back," Alan pointed.

"Thanks." She told them, and went off to the back room to find their phone.


	4. Chapter 4

The Lost Boys

Not My Only Reason

As soon as Alexis was out of sight, Edgar scooted closer to Alan.

"Why did you tell her the phone is back there? The phone is over there." He asked, pointing to the spot next to the cash register where their only phone sat.

"So we could have some time to talk while she is looking for the 'phone'." Alan told his brother.

"Well then you better hurry, because the back isn't that big, and she'll be coming back any second," Edgar warned.

Alan nodded before coming closer and getting quieter. "What do you think about all this?"

Edgar shrugged. "It seems we have a better lead on our local vamp problem."

"And Alexis seems to know a lot more than she's letting us in on," Alan said, trying to point the conversation in the direction he intended. "Which could be very dangerous for her and us. We have no idea how long she's going to be under our care, so we have to make sure she knows that we take no bullshit."

Edgar's eyes went a little wide, and his voice raised up to normal volume. "What do you mean we don't know long she's going to be in our care? We're still going to watch over her once this blows over?!"

Alan punched his brother to quiet him down. "Well duh. After what's happened, plus her vagueness about her sister, she's obviously a target. We'll have to keep an eye on her until we know it's safe."

Edgar looked so betrayed, he didn't want to take care of her. The attitude she'd displayed thus far and her horrible listening skills made it hard for him to trust her. He knew that they would have to protect her, but he really hoped Alan would just say they could let her go.

Alan just rolled his eyes at the look on his brother's face. "Come on, it's not going to be that bad. She'll probably get better now that we've saved her."

"Whatever," Edgar huffed, crossing his arms and looking away. "She's just going to get in the way of everything at this rate."

"You're just saying that because you're jealous of the bloodsucker she was with."

"Listen here you bastard, I am not jealous!"

Alan punched his brother harder and quietly hissed, "Now you've done it!"

Alexis poked her head out of the back room and looked at them curiously. "Hey, what's going on?"

Alan and Edgar quickly separated from each other, making them seem totally suspicious to Alexis.

"Oh, just talking," Alan said, trying to be nonchalant.

Alexis just raised an eyebrow and walked back into the front area. She had been able to catch the last part of what had been going on, due to not being able to find a phone back there. It wasn't hard to realize that there was nowhere for a phone to even _go_ due to the mess. Instead, she decided to be a great person and eavesdrop on them.

"Well, I was going to come back out soon anyways," she said. "I couldn't find any phone back there."

"Oh, I totally forgot!" Alan said, suddenly 'remembering'. "We moved our phone to the front just last week! I haven't gotten used to it yet, sorry."

She knew that was a lie. There was no way they ever had a phone back there, but of course she had to play along with the lie as well.

"It's alright," she said as she walked over to the phone. After picking up the receiver, she stared at the numbers with anxiety. Her parents were not going to react well, but the longer she waited, the less likely she would be able to leave the house ever again. She plucked up her courage after 30 seconds of staring at the phone and dialed the number.

It wasn't long after she dialed the number when someone picked up the phone. She heard her mother's frantic voice say, "Alexis? Are you there? Oh god dammit please be there!"

"Hey Mom," Alexis nervously said.

"Alexis! Where have you been? Where are you? Why are you not home? Are you hurt? Did something bad happen to you? Why would you do this to us? Can you think of anyone but yourself for one second of your day? We have been-"

"Mom? MOM!" Alexis yelled at her mother. "I'm fine, nothing bad has happened."

"Then why are you missing from home? We told you to be home by midnight, and what time is it? 12:05! Why would you disobey us?'

"MOM! I met a friend at the boardwalk today and got too caught up in fun. We tried to get me home, but the storm was too much, and we just stayed over at their shop. Their parents own one here and they thought it would be better if I just stayed here too."

"Well then, let me talk to these so called parents," her mother told her.

"Oh um, sure! Hold on a few seconds," she nervously looked at the brothers for help. She whispered to them, "My mom wants to talk to your parents! What do I do?"

Edgar grabbed the phone from Alexis, and started talking to her mom.

"Hello?" he said, his voice just a bit deeper and gravely than his voice already was. Alexis and Alan could barely contain their laughter, but they were somehow able to keep it down. Edgar shot them an annoyed glance before continuing.

"Yes, this is the father. Yes, she did meet my child today at the boardwalk. Yes, we did try to bring her home, but the rain was too much, we couldn't see through our windshield, and the wind was too hard to walk home in, so we offered for her to stay the night." He paused, listening to her mother talk. "Yes, yes. We can walk her over tomorrow if you would like." He paused once more. "Yes, perfect time. We'll have her home right then. Thanks, goodbye." And he hung up.

"What did she say?" Alexis eagerly asked.

"She said you could stay," Edgar told her, and she huffed a sigh of relief. "And we have to have you home by time they get off of work tomorrow."

She was so relieved that it actually worked. It took a minute after the call ended to realize how tense she'd been before and during the call. Her lungs had suddenly filled with air and her hands were a little shaky. She tried to be inconspicuous about calming herself down, but it seemed Edgar was watching with concern hidden in his eyes.

"So," Alexis said, her voice a little pitched up from trying to calm down. "Where am I going to sleep now that we've gotten this far? And you two?"

"Uh, I think we have a couch," Alan told her.

"You've got a couch?" she asked, perplexed. She didn't remember seeing it from her search for a phone earlier.

"We also have a bed frame, without a mattress, if you would like to sleep on that instead," Edgar said, joking around to lighten the mood from her anxiety earlier.

"No thanks, a couch is fine with me," Alexis told him, giving him a small smile in appreciation. "But what about guys? Where are you going to sleep?"

"We'll have to sleep on the floor. We've got nothing else, you're lucky we even have the couch," Alan remarked as they walked to the back.

"Fine, but I don't like how you guys have to sleep on the floor. You sure you've got nothing else?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Don't worry, Edgar and I will be fine. We can sleep on the floor no problem."

Alan pulled a bunch of junk from on top of what appeared to be the couch, showing her that there was indeed a couch. It was a very shitty couch, but one nonetheless. He grabbed one of the boxes of junk to reveal it had blankets inside. He took out a few and let her choose, to which she chose a couple of the thinner blankets. She hoped they would use some of the bigger blankets to give some cushion for the hard ground. She laid one of the blankets to cushion her sleep on the couch, not trusting it to not have springs or pieces of metal trying to jab into her skin.

She sat down on the couch to find out it was only just barely better than being on the floor. It was so lumpy and squishy, and her ass had just about fell into the back crack of the couch. She cringed and decided to watch the Frog Brothers as they made their bed. They had cleared out a pretty big area, and were using teamwork to lay blankets down. Edgar had looked over at Alexis to see her watching them, but he quickly looked away in embarrassment. She chuckled a bit and laid down, not dwelling on it. It must've been an exhausting day, because as soon as her head hit the lumpy couch she was out.

As Edgar got into the makeshift bed, he took another look at Alexis to find her sleeping peacefully already. It brought a small smile to his face to see her so peaceful, but the moment was ruined by Alan turning off the lights in the back and crawling into their bed. He quickly shook the thoughts about her from his mind, using the blanket-turned-pillow to relieve him for the night, wishing he would be able to fall asleep as fast as her.

Alexis woke up in the middle of the night, still tired. Something felt different, very different. She woke up a bit more and noticed she was no longer on the lumpy couch in the comic shop owned by the Frog Brothers, but in a real and comfortable bed. It wasn't her bed. Once she was finally aware of her surroundings, she felt a presence behind her on the bed. It wasn't a bad presence, but in fact it was a very protective presence. She turned her head and body slightly to look behind her, and she saw a boy on the bed with her. He had short dark hair, and she was just able to see light highlights spiked up in his hair. He looked to be around her age. A few seconds after looking over the boy, he woke up. He looked at her very lovingly with light blue eyes that she was barely able to see. He came a little closer to her, and kissed her, full on the lips. Confused at first, she didn't do anything, but as he kept kissing her, she was kissing him back. When he broke the kiss, they got closer and he wrapped his arms around her stomach. She placed her arms around his, and leaned against his chest a little. They cuddled like that until she was finally asleep again.

Then she woke up.

It was morning. The first thing she did when she woke up was look for that boy, but she was back on the couch again. She realized it must have been a dream and slumped back to into her sleeping position, and put her face in between the end of the cushion and arm of the couch. Despite what happened during the previous day, she really wanted it to be real. He had a very protective feeling around her, it was very similar to how the Frog Brothers felt around her now. It was so different to how Jake had treated her while he was pretending to like her. It felt so _real_. She moved her head to look around the back of the shop for a second, but found the Frogs staring down at her. She covered her head with some of the blanket, whining at them to show them she was irritated.

"Jeez, look who woke up on the wrong side of the couch," Edgar commented on her attitude.

"Shut up," she told Edgar. "I surprisingly got a good amount of sleep."

Edgar faked looking offended and scoffed at her. "Is that any way to treat your hosts?"

Taking the blanket off her head, she rolled her eyes and sat up. "I'm sorry, I didn't know I was in a place of royalty 'your highness'."

He gave her one of his famous death glares, and she smiled smugly at him. He could tell it was already going to be a long day.  
Alan interrupted the two before it got any worse.

"So what time do you need to be home by, then?" he asked.

"About 4ish," she replied. "They get off at 3:30 and it takes about a half hour for them to get home."

Alan nodded and looked at his watch. "Well we have plenty of time before then. Our parents will be here soon to open shop."

"So we have time to hang out before we take you home, if you'd like," Edgar added.

"Where are your parents, by the way?" she asked.

"As soon as they were half way decent enough to drive they were out of here," Edgar replied bitterly. "It was a few hours before the storm even hit."

"Oh," she mumbled, looking at them in surprise. She didn't think they were that shitty of parents, but it seemed she was wrong. "So they just sort of left you guys here?"

"Yeah. Usually when they do this we can catch a bus that's close enough to where we live, but sometimes we just hang out here for the night. They're obviously not worried to leave us here alone."

Alexis could tell it was a hard subject for the both of them, because Edgar was trying his best to keep his anger down and Alan was trying hard not to slap Edgar for the way he was talking about them. She didn't believe Alan liked that their parents did this shit, but he probably hated thinking about it.

"I...I'm sorry," she apologized. "I...didn't mean to..."

Alan was about to assure her that it was no problem, when Edgar decided it was a great time to have a meltdown.

"It's okay, it's not your fault they're pieces of shit," he started. "It's not your fault that we have to sit and fend for ourselves while they sit in the back and get fucking high on whatever drug it is this week. Oh, and that it's been this way since we were old enough to get shit done! Not to mention-"

"Edgar!" Alan barked, finally breaking. "Shut the fuck up about them. I don't want to hear anything else about them ever again."

"Maybe if they gave a shit, we wouldn't have to worry about having conversations like this! I can't wait until we can fucking leave their place!"

Alexis sat with clenched teeth and hands, not knowing how to comfort either brother. They obviously weren't happy with their parents, but didn't talk about it with each other often. She couldn't handle them yelling, so she stood up and walked out to the front, leaning against the front counter and falling to the ground. Keeping her eyes firmly shut, she breathed in and out slowly to keep from going into an anxiety attack. Her mind blocked out everything to keep herself focused on breathing, so she wasn't sure if they were still fighting or if what she'd done interrupted them.

She couldn't believe that their parents were that bad. She had no idea they'd had to fend for themselves for so long; her life had been so contrasting in comparison. Her parents hadn't always been as overprotective as they had been the past year, but they were still very involved in their children's lives. They volunteered for school activities, helped them with homework, and we're always there to listen to the problems of their children. Alan and Edgar had none of that. It was hard to think that these two boys were going to school, working in the shop, and watching out for the undead everyday by themselves.

It was quite a few minutes before she could calm her thoughts down and her reaction. It wasn't the proper way to react, especially when it wasn't about her. She just couldn't figure out what to say to make them stop. She was about to get up, when she looked up and saw the brothers standing above her, leaning against the comic shelves and trying to look nonchalant.

"Hey," she mumbled weakly. "Sorry about just leaving like that, I-"

"Don't worry about it," Alan said, cutting her off. "We got too caught up in a conversation we shouldn't have had in front of you. I can't imagine it was very fun for you to hear."

Edgar nodded in agreement, but stayed silent. He wouldn't even look at her, which made her a little sad. "Yeah, we were out of line. Sorry."

"It's okay," she said, getting her voice back slowly. She slowly stood up and wiped at her eyes, only just realizing she had gotten tears in her eyes from panicking. "I'll just go now, so I don't have to be even more of a bother to you guys."

Edgar's head snapped to attention at her words, making Alexis jump a little in surprise.

"You're not being a bother," Alan reassured her. "In fact, it's better the more time you spend with us so we can make sure you're safe."

She nodded slightly at his words, surprised at both of their reactions.

"Oh, um, alright," she said, unsure of how to proceed. "I'm glad you both think so."

"But if you really think you should go home, we'd be happy to escort you," Edgar spoke. They were being so kind to her, she felt like she could never repay them.

Alexis nodded again, more confident in her decision. "The earlier I get home, the more likely I'll be able to see you guys again."

They smiled at her words - well, as well as they could with their 'too cool' personas out.

"Alright, home it is," Alan decided. As soon as they were all packed up and prepared for the trip home, they were off. Alexis was nervous about them coming to her home, but she remembered they followed her and Jake home yesterday; so they were already aware of the area she lived in and what it looked like, unfortunately. It wasn't a bad area or anything, but it was a little too fancy for her tastes.

When they reached her home, they all stopped on the doorstep to say their goodbyes.

"Thank you guys for saving my life," she said. "And letting me crash at your place, and for escorting me home."

"It's no problem," Alan stated, putting out his hand for her to shake. "Next time you're out, let us know."

Instead of taking his hand, she gave him a hug. She figured the boys deserved some form of endearment after lacking it from their parents most of their lives. She also just wanted to be able to thank them in a more earnest way than a handshake would give. He was surprised at first, but returned the sentiment awkwardly. She then let go and gave a hug to Edgar, who also awkwardly returned the hug.

She giggled when she let go and saw them looking around awkwardly, very not used it. Alan cleared his throat to bring back his gruff attitude and started to speak. "So uh, we wanted to give you this comic so that you could study up and be more prepared next time."

Edgar held the comic up to her, and it was a copy of the comic she looked at when she first came into the shop, _Vampires Everywhere!._

"Free of charge," Edgar added.

She gave them a surprised look and shook her head quickly. "This is really nice, but I can't take it."

They returned her surprised look and pulled it back. "What do you mean you can't take it?"

"You two have already done so much for me," she confessed, looking ashamed. "I'll never be able to repay you for your kindness. I would be rude of me to keep taking without giving you guys anything in return."

Edgar groaned and shoved the comic book into her hands, frightening her a little. "Just take it. We're doing this because we want to."

"And if you're really concerned about being able to repay us," Alan chimed in. "Helping us find and kill the undead will be payment enough."

Alexis blinked away the tears that were starting to form and clutched the book in her hands. She nodded excitedly and smiled happily at them. "Thank you, I'll try as hard as I can to help you guys out."

"Yeah, yeah," Edgar said, shrugging and walking down the steps backwards as to keep an eye on her. "Just get inside so you'll be safe. And get back out as soon as you can."

She laughed and nodded, waving them off as she opened the door to her home and walked in. As soon as they both turned around to walk back to the boardwalk, she closed the front door and went to the window to watch until they were out of sight. If they were going to protect her, she would protect them too. When they were officially out of sight, she looked at the comic in her hands. She was excited to look through it, but she would most definitely have to hide it from her parents. Just one look at the 'gory' cover of the comic book and her parents would have a meltdown, going on and on about how she's turning out just like her sister...

She stopped her thoughts there and took a breather back to reality. She decided she would do what she could to get on her parents good side. She did her daily chores, took a shower, and put on some nice and clean clothes. Unfortunately, she found out that Jake had bled on her when he got stabbed, so she had to throw away the shirt to make sure her parents wouldn't see it.

When all was said and done, she put the comic book given to her in the drawer of her vanity, the only place she could lock it and make sure her parents never got in. As soon as she got everything done, she laid down on the couch in the living room and turned on the TV to relax herself. It hadn't been 15 minutes into whatever show was on that her eyes fluttered shut, and she took a much needed nap.

 **A/N: Holy shit, this chapter changed the most of all of them. It was so cringey for me to read every time I look back on it, so it was nice to fix it up. I'm really sorry if this cut out some of your favorite dialog though. I hope I can keep them better in character this time around, and this can be a good read still. Thank you for sticking around.**


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